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The Best Tires For Bicycle Touring

We regularly get questions about the ‘best’ tire for bicycle touring.

In this article, we look at a few options but first it helps to define what we mean by the ‘best’ tire. It’s impossible to find one tire that does everything well. Rather, you need to search for the ‘best suited’ tire for the trip you’re planning.

The tire you’ll need for a tour along the paved roads and bike paths of Europe will be very different from an expedition tire, which might be slower and heavier but will be better able to tackle rough and changing terrain, and might last longer (relieving you of the burden of finding a replacement in out-of-the-way places).

Rough tracks might require an expedition-grade tire. On smooth roads you can get away with a lighter, faster tire.

You’ll notice that we only recommend Schwalbe-brand tires. Schwalbe has been the leader in touring tires for some time now and whenever we ask for recommendations, the answer is almost always Schwalbe. Our personal experience with these tires is also excellent.

#1. Schwalbe Marathon Plus

The Marathon Plus range of tires is one of the most popular.

After using a thick, expedition tire on our world trip, we decided to put something a bit lighter on our steel-framed Robin Mather bikes for asphalt-road touring around Europe.

We went for the Marathon Plus tire in a 26 x 1.75 size and so far, so good. They’re rather heavy at nearly 1kg per tire but feel nippy and responsive compared to the expedition-grade tires we used previously.

There’s more than enough grip for riding in messy weather and on slippery roads. Schwalbe also make a ‘tour’ version of the tire (Marathon Plus Tour), with a heavier tread — useful if you’re planning to ride on dirt roads.

They’re heavy, but we take our 700×38 tires on all surfaces, including occasional singletrack, and they grip well and offer pretty good flat protection. Between 2 bikes, we’ve only had 10 flats in 17,000 kilometers. – Doug Walsh, Two Far Gone

We use Schwalbe Marathon Tour Plus. Always have and always will. 3,500+ miles and we can count number of punctures on 1 hand! -Matt & Casey Kohn, Before It’s Gone Journey

#2. Schwalbe Marathon Mondial

Schwalbe’s Marathon Mondial tire is designed for extreme and long expeditions, and is available in a folding version.

If you’re planning a long expedition where durability and the option to ride on any surface is important, take a look at Schwalbe’s Marathon Mondial. It’s a replacement for the much loved Marathon XR tire (now out of production). Schwalbe describe it as the ‘ultimate touring tire, made for roads, tracks and trails of all continents’.

The Mondial comes with either a wire or folding bead. It weighs 700-800g and costs approximately $50-90 U.S. per tire, depending on whether you choose the normal wire bead version or a folding bead (easier to take along as a spare).

#3. Schwalbe Marathon Greenguard

We don’t yet have much experience with this tire but we should have a better idea of how they ride in a few months, as these tires have been fitted to our new Circe Morpheus touring bike.

I have used this very fine tire for a year now. It’s a new tire composed of recycled materials. Compared to Marathon Plus it’s cheaper, lighter and more convenient to cycle on, but doesn’t last as long as the Marathon Plus (around 5,000 km on the back wheel). But it’s nearly as puncture-resistant. I think it’s perfect for shorter/semi-long biketrips. – Kasper Kirkegaard

I too use the Schwalbe with GreenGuard. Zero flats in several years of all-weather-and-terrain use. While, of course, heavier in comparison to a road racing tire, they have (imho) surprisingly-low rolling resistance for their size. – Chuck Bahl

What Bicycle Shops Say

When this article was first published, we surveyed bike shops for their opinion. Although now a bit dated, the replies may still be of use. Most recommend either a Schwalbe or Continental tire, with a few alternative ideas thrown in for fun.

Touring tires face very challenging conditions on the road. These tires need to possess a balance of flat resistance, rolling resistance and robustness and designing for one of these generally diminishes the others. Flat protection, can be accomplished with plastic belts, woven flatbreakers or thick rubber 3D flat guards. Additionally, some tires also possess sidewall protection as well as anti-chafing strips near the beads and anti-pinch flat technology.

Tourers in remote areas may prefer the extreme flat protection of the 3D belted tires. Some good options in this category are the Continental Touring Plus, the Schwalbe Marathon Plus and the Vittoria Randonneur Touring. Tires with better handling characteristics while still remaining tough under touring loads are tires with woven or polymer flat breakers and tough sidewall protection like the Continental Travel Contact or the Schwalbe Marathon HS 368. More supple still, and the cyclotourist’s first choice for tough touring tires that still ride well and protect on or off road, are the Panaracer T-Serv TG or Pasela TG tires.

Ed Wagar, Touring Gear Bicycles (Harbor Springs, Michigan)Verdict: Schwalbe’s Marathon and the Continental Contact are both good but for longer tours Continental’s Travel Contact is the best choice.

There are some other great tires out there such as the Marathon. It still has the kevlar-mb belt for puncture resistance. Continental Travel Contact with Duraskin is very nice also. Duraskin provides sidewall protection, while a puncture resistant strip has been molded into the tread. It comes in a 37mm size. I have toured using the standard contact from Continental, which worked great and it comes in sizes from 28mm to 42mm. If I were headed out on a tour now I would go for the more durable tire but the standard did work well for me.

I normally recommend the Schwalbe Marathon Plus for touring, or I run the Continental Contact on my touring/commuter these days as my shop stocks them. Schwalbe has a great name in the touring field as it is a very durable line of tires with excellent handling. The Contact works well in light gravel or hard pack dirt and then rolls super fast on the road if properly inflated.

Sorry, in my everyday life in the city, I wouldn’t trade any amount of money for double the punctures. I just cannot afford to sweat in the ditch and fix punctures when I run on a schedule, wear clean clothes and have a complaining kid in the trialer.

I have had Panaracer’s Hi Road for 3k miles an have not had a single puncture or flat so far. I ride mostly road with a dirt road every now an then with a medium loaded bike. Curiously, I did not think much of this tires when I first put them on my bike. That said, I agree with you! A flat can be fixed but a sidewall failure in a remote location is unacceptable!

What happened is that the engineers in Germany came up with this wizz bang triple nano compound and like the geniuses at Coca Cola foisted it on the public as an improvement. Yes, the ride of the latter is better, but the tires wear out in half the time and puncture far more readily.

I have also stockpiled XR’s and won’t be needing replacements for some years. Hopefully, the Schwalbe marketing people will wrest control from the scientists in the lab and bring the XR back.

If it’s anything like any organisation I’ve worked in, the PR guys will be leading, not the scientists. They just do the important work then pull their hair out as marketeers make a mockery of it. Think you got that one wrong.

12000 kms with zero punctures tells me that Vittoria Randonneur Cross (or the Randonneurs in 700C) are THE BEST tyres for durability and pouncture resistance. I’ve even pulled out 11 cat-head thorns from these – no loss of air.

More anecdotal reporting:
We ran Continental Travel Contacts (1.75″) for the first 6000km of our tour and had more flats than I can count. Contrast that with our Marathon XRs (2″) which have had zero flats related to road punctures (but a few related to not installing rim tape correctly!) in about 4000km.

I wasn’t aware that the XR was discontinued but I’m tempted to start stockpiling them now!

I rode across America San Diego to Boston in 2005. 3,446 miles in 54 days. I started with Continetal Gatorskins from San Diego to Las Cruces and had seven flats mostly due to wire shard from blown out truck tires. In Las Cruces a bike shop recommended Specialized Armadillo All Condition tires. I did not have another flat for the rest of the trip (over 3,000 miles) plus another 600 miles of riding after the trip. I’m not sure what is the best puncture resistant tire these days, but I keep buying the Armadillos.

Hello Bob,
Thanks for sharing your experiences…don’t know if you check this blog anymore, but I would be really interested in talking with you about your 2005 trip. I’m planning a similar route for this April. Thanks. Bill B.

Often forgotten in this discussion, is the question: “Where do you want to ride?” There is simply not one best tyre, it’s horses for courses.

If your tour will lead you over many unpaved roads or snow, then you will need a treaded tyre, like the models mentioned above.

However, if you will be riding on roads with reasonable to good paving, e.g. anything from a moderate gravel road to nice asphalt, slick tyres are much better. They offer less rolling resistance, less weight, more (yes, more!) grip and are less prone to punctures as they hold less dirt.

I often see people touring on heavy, treaded tyres on trips with only moderate to good roads. I think that’s a bad choice. If you tour in Europe or so, use slicks.

As far as I know, the best touring slick at the moment is the Schwalbe Kojak. I used it in Scandinavia. It is almost as fast as a racing tyre, is very tough and offers excellent grip on wet roads. Get the folding version to save a lot of weight for a slightly higher price.

Walter,
Very good point. I toured across the US in 1982 (what’s a Schwalbe?) on 28c specialized touring turbos -no longer
made- no tread, and on a bike with front and rear panniers
that was so heavy I could hardly lift. I could ride 145
miles in a day and did a couple of times. I don’t see myself using those big heavy so-called touring tires unless I am going to tour off the blacktop. Who needs all that extra rolling resistance?

After reading your post swapped my Marathon Plus for 700×35 Kojaks. What a difference! Never again will I drag the road along with me. I have had them on for a couple of months and have undertaken my broken glass and dog crap infested city commute along with some spectacular loaded touring of the Scottish Highlands. Approx 1300 miles so far with better grip, faster rolling and no punctures.

Hi David
None of my riding has been ‘off-road’, but I have had had no issues with loose gravel on cycle/forest/canal type paths. I have also found good grip in the wet (and I do mean proper rain). I agree that anything to do with mud would be an absolute disaster though! Up to around 1900 miles and no punctures yet. I am going to run them on my summer trip from Amsterdam to Budapest, so I should get a good idea of their longevity (I just bought a spare to carry – a mere 330g). The Marathon Pluses will remain in storage until further notice.

I can now confirm that my rear Kojak lasted 4343 miles and the front is still going strong. Just over half of these miles have been loaded touring and half city commute/weekend rides. I have had about 5 rear wheel punctures, two of which have been in the last 14 miles. No sign of wearing completely through the ‘tread’, but the side wall has a hole so in the bin they go. I am definitely going to continue to use these strong, lightweight tyres as they perform really well. They coped with some proper mountain bike trails in the Czech Republic but I should mention that I found that on any kind of loose sandy surface, they just don’t work at all. With the exception of sand, I think they are great tyres for sealed surface touring.

I recently swapped my Marathon Plus for Marathon Duremes after abt 5,000 kms. Obviously I cannot say how they’ll perform in the long run, but as a first analysis they make for a verrry smooth ride. We do some 3 week tours in summer, otherwise ride in the city every day, so we talk mostly ordinary paved roads, but I ride on broken glas like a fakir all the time. I may replace my tyres earlier than some of the other posters, but I enjoy it that with Schwalbes tyres fixing punctures is almost never happening!

My wife and I have traveled over 17000km over the last two years, 95% on road. We started on Marathon XR 2.1″ as we thought we would be doing more off road. They ran well to about 10000km, but then started to suffer problems from glass and tyre wire shards. We changed them for the newer Extremes. These didn’t last as long only about 6000km and in three out of four tyres they suffered from glass attack. Once there is a short slit (just a few mm) the inner webbing becomes detached and the tyre starts to bulge.

My feeling is the XR is a more durable tyre.

I have also run Continental + and had no problems with them but we only used them for a short time.

I commute 25 miles a day, mostly on tarmac across west london in to the city. I’ve started with Continental Gatorskin Hard Shells. They rode nice but puncture loads in the wet. I’m constantly finding the tyres pick up little sharp stones and if I get unlucky one gets through. I put probably 1000 miles on them before they started giving regular flats.

One night I switched to the armadillo. Two weeks later the first flat, and then another 3 weeks and another one.

So I’ve just switched to Marathon Plus 700×25 and they do seem more bomb proof. Much harder to put on that the other tyres and considerably heavier to ride with.

I’m not sure I’m going to be happy with the tradeoff of much less fun all the time through slow tyres; versus the occasional puncture.

Since I have a bicycle computer attached to my bicycle in October 2010, now it shows about 8000 km in total distance that I have reached, for everyday use and sometimes a daytrip (more than 100 km in a day). I have used CST Traveller 26 x 1.50 since January 2010, and it still good until now. It means that over this last year, it runs more than 10000 km and can do more again.

I never had the chance to try the XR, but ı thınk these Marathon Plus are golden. Alrıght they are heavy, prıcey and mıght be a bıt harder to put on the rıms, but ıt’s all worth ıt ın my opınıon.

I’ve rıdden 16000km on the front one wıthout any sıngle puncture or problem and the rear one was changed at 7000km by precautıon, unpuctured too though. 5000km later (@12000) my fırst glass puncture occured on the rear one and wıth a lıttle patch on the ınsıde has been rıdıng strong sınce.

I’m about to change the set by precautıon agaın, and ı aın’t buyıng anythıng else for sure!

ps. In fact the mondıal has quıte a sımılar thread as the Plus ı thınk.

I run the 700x35C. It’s the biggest size that will normally fit inside my fenders. (Actually, I ended up changing just the back tire to 38C recently because I couldn’t get 35C. After putting the grinder to the fender I managed to fit it, but it would not up front. I’ll see how much it changes the ride)

I always ride them at 80psi. Don’t know why exactly, but by now I’m quite supertitious about it.

I’m still confused. What’s the difference in terms of results between the mondial (non folding) and the dureme for use on a all terrains, long tours, including lots of varied surfaces on a major trail (eg 4000km and a tour of france for 3 months, mostly on tarred surfaces.

Which one is the best for me? Which one is tougher? which one is faster? which one handles better in bad conditions?

I’m already a slow rider, so i don’t need to go any more slowly when i’m on a highway. But i do a lot of off road in australia and conditions can be very tough on tires.

Andrea, I am not sure which one is the best for you but I can tell you how they compare according to Schwalbe (the Mondial is too recent to have feedback from users). The Mondial is a tougher tire thanks to the TravelStar compound (folding bead only). It was really designed for long distance touring and designed to be perhaps the most durable Schwalbe touring tire – certainly more durable than the Dureme. Another durable option is the new Dureme Tandem that some people are starting to use on non-tandem bikes for long distance touring. Due to its more agressive thread, the Mondial will perform better off-road and on winter roads than the Dureme. That toughness comes with a “price”: the weight. The Mondial is heavier than the Dureme (again due to the TravelStar compound). For example the Dureme in 26×2.00 weighs 590 gr. while the Mondial in the same size weighs 740 gr; which is pretty significant. For that reason, I would say that the Mondial is slower than the Dureme – even though Schwalbe rates both tire with the same speed performance. As far as punctures and sidewall protection, Schwalbe rates both tire equally, but again, thanks to the TravelStar compound, I would not be surprised if the Mondial would outperform the Dureme in that aspect. To make it simple, if speed is really an issue for you, go for the Dureme. If you want the most durable tire, go for the Mondial. Either way you can’t go wrong as both of them are excellent tires! Good luck and happy travel.

Gee. I’ve gone and ordered them already but i hadn’t realised how much they weighted. eg 740g. That’s a lot. I shall have to get a small computer and camera to compensate. Or more lighweight something else anyway. Thanks for your analysis.

Between the dureme and the mondial, I understand that the dureme is lighter and has better grip, esp in the wet. The mondial is more durable and appears to have a more aggressive side tread. I find that a risk situation on the road is climbing small ridges — e.g. the shoulder to pavement edge or a streetcar track — lengthwise. Is there a preference between these two tires in that scenario? Is one likely to be a better climber?
Also, what’s the thinking on mixing things up — e.g. dureme on the front for grip and ride combined with mondial on the rear for durability?

Just planning my trip which will be both on road and off road (e.g. will include tour divide and also long stretches of asphalt). I’m thinking of taking 2 sets of tyres,
– on road: a set of slicks (e.g. Kojak or Supreme)
– off road: a combination of Mondial(rear) and/or Extreme (front) (2.25). I do have a Surly Troll MTB that can take this type of tyre width.

Hypothesising, surely it’s better to have slicks on road (e.g. Kojak, Supreme); aren’t these up to 20% (guess) more efficient than for example the Mondial or Dureme? (Due to their high PSI, narrower tyre width and reduction in tread.) Over seriously long distances the time you can make up in speed must overcome any puncture disadvantage (which, let’s face it, are reasonably easy to fix); over a year this could be an enormous saving of a couple of months/ 2000km (guess /depending on your trip). Not that you necessarily want to rush but if the speed is there, I’d take it. OK so they’re less durable, but you can take multiple spares. For a start the slicks are MUCH lighter (Kojak 26×1.35/ 95 psi/ 295g; Mondial (26×2.0/740g)) so carrying spares isn’t so bad but also any potential weight disadvantage from spares ( which there probably wouldn’t be) would be made up in the efficiency of the bike.

My only reservation for taking the slicks instead would be grip on wet roads; not sure how much of a factor this would be.

I am speculating, however, and not really talking from experience; would be interested to hear other people’s thoughts.

Tour (26″) on road and tracks in UK. Schwalbe Marathon plus used as give least problems but noticeable rolling resistance and more twitchy on tarmac than Panaracer. Panaracer Pasela TG recommended to me and previously used,deteriorate quick and puncture very easily thorns and road grit) but roll really well. Also used Continentals on 28″ wheels, again poor puncture resistance and wear quick.
If there was a choice it would be Schwalbe puncture resistance and wearability with Panaracer Pasela TG low rolling resistance. At the price bicycle tyres are this spec. should be available.
Oh! Noticed that Continental tyres and especially inner tubes are not the spec/quality they were or should be; very disappointed – Happy touring

I sold a lot of Schwalbe tires at my touring and commuting specific shop in New Mexico. They worked great with liners and slime tubes for the goat heads that littered the bike path. Some of the 26″ Marathon seemed to wear quick on rough roads and pathways with heavy riders. I had 700 x 32 Marathons on my touring bike for a few years, lots of miles and only had a few flats with liners added. Thesed days I’m riding 26″ Kenda Small Block Eights which I am really enjoying without flat issues on my commuter and off road touring bike and Vittoria Randonneurs on my road touring bike.

Rideon,
How are the Small Block Eights for wear in your opinion? I have them on my mountain bike, which I am considering using for a short tour with alternating tarmac/off road. So far, I like their low rolling resistance, but the rear sems to wear quickly when I ride on pavement.

If you spend some time pedaling off paved roads I would like to say I just love the Marathon Tour Plus.
I tiny bit heavier but the are pretty much flat free and last a long time.
I have been using them with a fully loaded bike.
The only thing is they don’t come in the folding style so I carry a Mondial as a spare.

Continental Travel Contact’s have good enough puncture protection, good offroad grip, great road grip and the extreme low rolling resistance enables you to run fatter tyres without compromising performance all this makes the Continental Travell Contact in my opinion the best tyre choice for bicycle touring.

About Us

We’re Friedel & Andrew: two Canadians who love travelling by bicycle. We’ve travelled through over 30 countries and cycled over 60,000km. Most of that distance was covered on a bike tour around the world from 2006-2009. Read More »

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